LAWRENCE, Kan. -- It was a glorious October afternoon, and not just outside Kansas basketball's practice gym. Because inside, where the lights are electric and the air occasionally smells of sweat, representatives of KU's three NCAA championship teams were in attendance as the Jayhawks prepped for the 2013-14 season.

From the 1952 squad, forward Bill Hoagland was sitting in a folding chair adjacent to the court. A few seats down was sharpshooter Jeff Gueldner from the 1988 team. And wearing shorts and sneakers and occasionally slipping onto the court for drills was the unsung hero of the 2008 national champs, guard Sherron Collins.

The question that had to be inferred from this serendipitous convergence of KU greats: Might there be another 15 or so national champions in the gym, the guys doing the bulk of the work in practice?

On this particular day, coach Bill Self would have laughed sadly at such a suggestion. It was not the sort of effort he hoped to see. There were signs, though, even on a rough afternoon, that KU could be building toward something extraordinary.

The world is well aware KU is the temporary home of elite prospect Andrew Wiggins, a 6-8 small forward from Toronto who quite likely will be the first player selected in next June's NBA draft. He did plenty to catch a spectator's attention through the course of the practice. But there were a lot of other areas that made an impression:

Wayne Selden does not relent. I'll say this as directly as possible: Selden is the hardest-practicing freshman I've encountered in more than a quarter-century on the college basketball beat. Does anyone remember Iowa's Jess Settles? He's always been my standard for a high-energy player, and Selden clears that bar.

There are players with greater raw talent or a more natural basketball frame. (The 6-5, 230-pound Selden has wide shoulders and a thick chest; neither will hinder him, but they're not prototypical for an elite prospect). Selden makes few mistakes, seems only to take jump shots he is convinced will connect and just does not stop.

Selden is going to win a lot of basketball games for Kansas just with his energy and his precision. He'll win some more with his strength and athleticism, which coaches expect will help him to become an exceptional defender. He'll win one here or there with his shooting.

Wiggins's athleticism will permit him to do some things college opponents can't prevent. But those same young men simply won't want to get in Selden's way.

The center position is alive and well. There is a theory floating around that teams no longer want to employ a dominant center in the pursuit of championships. This is kind of amusing at the college level given the fresh success of Kentucky's Anthony Davis and Gorgui Dieng, but it is filtering down from the NBA, where long-term injury has left a Greg Oden-sized hole at the position.

Well, say hello to Joel Embiid, a 7-0 native of Cameroon who played high school ball in Florida. He owns physical gifts that call to mind Hakeem Olajuwon and basketball skills reminiscent of Tim Duncan. Embiid has great feet, jumps well, handles the ball like a skilled forward and fires perimeter jumpers with comfort and ease. When he learns how to apply all this, when he comes to terms with how truly talented he is--in the way Olajuwon did after a year with the Houston Cougars--Embiid will be a basketball monster.

KU is huge. When graduate transfer Tarik Black was in his first two years at Memphis, the program was low on backups at the big-man positions. Any time he encountered foul trouble, it was a calamity, so naturally he encountered foul trouble all the time. This is not an issue now. He is surrounded by big bodies in practice: Embiid, 6-8 Perry Ellis, 6-8 Jamari Traylor, 6-10 redshirt freshman Landen Lucas--even 6-9 senior Justin Wesley can throw down a vicious dunk or two.

That collection of size assures Wiggins can focus on adapting to the college small forward role, and that getting into the KU bench through foul trouble won't be that much of a boost.

A lot is on the point guards. Kansas is pleased with point guard recruit Frank Mason, a 3-star prospect signed out of a Virginia prep school because the staff admired his toughness. But neither he nor junior Naadir Tharpe is an automatic answer at the college game's most crucial position.

Tharpe was called on to bail out the Jayhawks when senior Elijah Johnson struggled near the end of last season; at times Tharpe delivered, at other times no.

There is more physical talent with this team, which could make the point guard's playmaking job easier, but there's also limited experience, which puts greater emphasis on the leadership aspects of the job.

It's not necessary to have an NBA-level point guard to win the NCAA championship. Jimmy Black proved that in 1982 with the North Carolina Tar Heels, and it was reinforced with Anthony Epps at Kentucky in 1996, Khalid El-Amin and Ricky Moore at UConn in 1999, Gerry McNamara at Syracuse in 2003, Taliek Brown at UConn in 2004. But look over the list. Those guys are exceptions, so they--and their teammates--had to be exceptional.

2) A UNC athletics tutor resigned citing Roy Williams' decision to have P.J. Hairston back on the team following Hairston's multiple cop stops. Surprised it took this long for someone to stand up?

DeCourcy: There've already been several people standing up and calling attention to the issues at North Carolina that impacted the athletic department, and it's been reflected in the reporting of Dan Kane and the Raleigh News & Observer.

What genuinely surprises me is someone who was working as an academic tutor at North Carolina for more than two decades could remain on the job when it was revealed the university had hosted a department that offered more than 50 courses that were considered suspect by UNC's own review -- and then suddenly become outraged to the point of resignation that a player would be kept on the team after essentially getting three traffic tickets.

There were some aggravating circumstances to at least one of those three traffic stops involving Hairston -- a gun found outside the vehicle, some marijuana found inside--but in the end he faced no charges on those matters.

So we're talking about three traffic stops.

That's what gets this guy to quit? Not the suspect courses? Dude should have been mocked for his dubious judgment, not granted the privilege of serious news coverage.

DeCourcy: One KU observer I encountered Tuesday said he'd heard Oubre is a lot like former Jayhawk Xavier Henry. I nearly fainted.

Oubre is more athletic, better conditioned, plays harder, rebounds better and can be coached into an elite defender. They are alike in two ways: 1) Both are extremely capable 3-point shooters, although Henry gets a substantial edge there; 2) Both are lefthanded.

OK, three ways: They both chose Kansas.

I believe KU fans ultimately will enjoy watching Oubre more.

4) Richard Pitino has just one season of head coaching experience, and now he's thrown into a league with some of the game's giants. Is this going to be the Gophers' hoops version of Tim Brewster -- splashy out-of-the-box hire, no results?

DeCourcy: It's too early to say where Pitino and Minnesota will end up. But this is a terribly hard place to learn on the job. The other 11 Big Ten schools -- no weak coaches. Not one. Nebraska's been down, but did you see the work Tim Miles did at Colorado State and North Dakota State? Penn State's had issues, but have you seen how sharply competitive even injury-wracked Lions teams have been -- how hard they play even when there seems to be nothing to play for?

The only other head coach in the league who is not enormously accomplished is Chris Collins, who is entering his first season as head coach at Northwestern as Pitino begins his second year as a head coach. Like Pitino, Collins grew up as the son of an excellent coach. Like Pitino, Collins has learned from the best. Collins' advantage is a longer apprenticeship and a lower bar of success.

Northwestern never has made the NCAA Tournament. An at-large invitation would make Collins a candidate for national coach of the year. Minnesota not only made the tournament last season, but actually won a game. And Tubby Smith still was asked to leave.

DeCourcy: That SJSU is so irrelevant we'll never be tortured by having to look at that on television.

People complain about the NCAA forcing buildings that play host to NCAA Tournament sites to use generic, standard-issue courts. Well, this is why. Ever since Boise State painted a couple of immense horse's heads on their floor and distracted TV viewers from what's supposed to matter--it's the game, everybody--folks in athletic departments all across the country have been trying to top that.

Well, here's the thing. They're not topping it. They're going lower. It's cute to cut an arch or the Red Sox logo into the grass of a Major League Baseball outfield. But it doesn't distract the viewer from the action because it's not visible in close-up.

Do they do this garbage in hockey, football, soccer? Do they even do it in the NBA?